Man's best friend, indeed
Laura Butterbrodt
Multimedia Journalist
Split
July 9 & 10
We got to Split around noon on Friday. We took a cab into town, where we were staying in an Airbnb in the Old Town for our first night. It was SWELTERING hot, especially compared to Duluth's mild temperatures, so we immediately had to change into cooler clothes before we set out to explore Old Town.
We went to find food because we were starving despite it being like 6 a.m. for our body clocks from home. We ended up at a nice little restaurant close to our Airbnb. We got a nice big carafe of wine and a bruschetta appetizer. I ordered a veggie risotto, but after only a few bites realized I was so full! Between the heat and the fact that it was basically breakfast, we could not finish our food, even though it was so good! Luckily we were able to get some to-go boxes and enjoyed it for supper later.
After lunch, we had to go back to the apartment to recover from our food comas and find a beach. We were in desperate need of a swim! We wandered down the marina, which was right in front of the apartment, and found a swim spot among some rocks. We had a great swim and float in the salty Adriatic Sea. It was so much easier to float in that water! I felt weightless. Afterward, we went for a walk through a park and considered checking out the night life Split has so much of, but we were pretty wiped out after our travels to Europe and I think we were back in the apartment by 8:30. :)
The next day, we had the morning to explore before we met at the marina to set sail. We checked out Diocletian's Palace, which was built in the fourth century and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. There were some nice shops around the square and we fell for quite a few tourist traps — so worth it! Got some art, dresses and matching captain hats!
Last but DEFINITELY not least was the most LIFE-CHANGING experience of my life: FROGGYLAND!!!! Froggyland is the largest collection of stuffed frogs in the world. It has 507 taxidermied frogs that are 100 years old and arranged in scenes depicting human situations. One of the best parts was the captions that went along with the scenes, which were extremely surreal situations and written in mostly broken English. It's truly impossible to describe the Froggyland experience — one simply has to see it for themselves. And if you go, PLEASE bring me back with you.
Froggyland and first love will never be forgotten!!!!!!!!
Next stop: The marina for our sail!!
